Cisco’s Chief Technology Officer Padmasree Warrior, joined Cisco in December 2007 and is responsible for the company’s technological innovations and strategy implementation. Warrior says video is the single most important application on the network that would drive network growth rates. Warrior believes that with the world moving towards multi-polar economies the technological innovation would now come both from emerging and developed markets. She spoke to NDTV Profit’s Ashutosh Sinha and discussed the next phase of the Internet’s evolution.
NDTV: It is said in advertisements that Cisco is preparing a human network. What is so human about the network?
Warrior: The network itself enables lot of human connections and that is the message behind the ‘human network’. Internet is all about enabling communities and individuals to connect with each other. So Cisco’s vision is to use the network as a platform to change the way we live, work, learn and play.
NDTV: So does this mean you get more and more into everyone’s houses enabling connectivity so that more and more devices are networked and we live a more networked life?
Warrior: Earlier internet was a data communication network but today it has become more of a collaboration networking capability. So boundaries will get blurred between what we do at home and what we do at work. Already you take your e-mail, video and content with you and pretty soon you can think of that boundary as work and home thinning. So we can think of it as bringing the internet experiences into home or making the enterprise more consumer like. We already play in the home with our presence in the cable set top business and we want to extend it further.
NDTV: But there is a social aspect to it as well since your personal life is also getting blurred with your work life. Is there no way to separate them?
Warrior: There is always a way. I think the control is with you as an individual. It is up to you how much you want to be connected and how much you are willing to let the technology to allow you to be more productive. I feel that if the technology allows me to be more productive or makes my work easier, then that is more liberating.
NDTV: So when we see a variety of devices that are connected what could that mean for our user experience. How do you see that at Cisco?
Warrior: I think video will play a big role in future in terms of how we communicate. After face-to-face communication, the most natural way of communicating is through video. As bandwidth capabilities increase we can combine a video visual experience with the social networking aspect, which is called visual networking. There are a lot of opportunities in this field. Cisco is starting with a new technology called Cisco TelePresence.
NDTV: This means there is great opportunity besides the product itself that you sell. This could mean whole lot of services revenue. Is Cisco veering towards that?
Warrior: Cisco already has services as central to its approach to globalization. As we become stronger in emerging markets with our products and solutions, our focus is to provide an end-to-end solution which includes services. Sometimes we will do it ourselves and sometimes we will do it with partners. In India we have very strong partnerships with several local players like Wipro, Infosys, TCS and Satyam.
NDTV: Is it because of very fast change in technology that companies are not able to adapt and they need stability in revenues, that is why they are focusing on services in such a big way?
Warrior: No this is an additional opportunity. Part of it has to do with the complexity of the solution itself.
NDTV: Cisco has been in news for moving some of its top management to India. How far has it progressed?
Warrior: India is the globalization headquarters for Cisco. We have almost every function, represented with top talent, here. We are very committed to investing in India and creating this as a centre for the future of the networking technologies.
NDTV: But why India? The telecom network here is not that robust. China appears much better.
Warrior: India is a big opportunity, both from a talent perspective and a network growth perspective. Our focus with India is not just to serve the India market but also the global emerging markets. We see India as a hub for our services to grow.
NDTV: What do you feel about the telecom scenario in India?
Warrior: As far as broadband penetration is concerned, India is not where it should be. We would like to see that change. We are working with the government and regulators here to make that a reality. More connectivity there is in a country, it benefits people in terms of what they want to accomplish and also helps in the economic growth of the country. It enables new business models to be created.
NDTV: Do you think that a strong dose of technology competition is important because we see only GSM thriving. Other technologies have not been able to make a dent. Will competing technologies offering telecom services help in improving connectivity and telecom penetration?
Warrior: Yes competition is always good but when there are too many technologies in the market, which creates fragmentations. Going beyond 3G we are very excited about WiMAX and the broadband capabilities it brings.
NDTV: Cisco is synonymous with acquisition, so how many companies are you acquiring every year?
Warrior: Over its history Cisco has successfully acquired over 120 companies. It is probably the benchmark in the industry in terms of not just acquiring companies but integrating them very effectively. Historically innovation moved from closed innovation model to open innovation model enabled by the internet. In the next five years, I think globalization is going to be a huge factor change that. We are quickly moving towards multi polar economies meaning there be multiple centers of economic growth. Thus, innovation will now come both from emerging markets and developed markets.
NDTV: What could high internet speed impact our personal life and work life?
Warrior: It will change our everyday living for the better. One key thing that is going to grow is video as it consumes 8-10 times more bandwidth per minute compared to voice and music. There is data that says everyday in the US there is 100 million streams that are accessed used by YouTube, which means the entire bandwidth consumed in the year 2000. Visual networking is going to change our communication process. Besides that collaboration like Web 2.0 type of technologies (blogs) will start to come in the enterprise world.
NDTV: How fast things can change in India to help citizens not just access government services through internet but also conduct business in a better way?
Warrior: As network gets employed in a broader sense and broadband penetration increases, you will see more empowerment to small businesses and users. As I said earlier there would be lot of opportunities to transform the way things get down in verticals like banking, education and healthcare.